THERE’LL be no Carabao Cup run for Regis Le Bris in his first season at Sunderland but he will have taken positives at Deepdale, despite suffering a competitive defeat for the first time as Black Cats boss last night.

Goals either side of half-time from Ryan Ledson and Mads Frokjaer ensured Preston, near enough at full-strength, edged past Sunderland’s second string in the first round of the League Cup.

Le Bris had promised changes and was true to his word, naming a completely different starting XI to the one that had got off to a winning start at Cardiff City on Saturday.

The team was very similar to the side that disappointed in the summer friendly defeat to Bradford City but some of Sunderland’s fringe figures will have given Le Bris more to think about after this spirited display than they did when most flopped at Valley Parade.

They went toe-to-toe with Preston in the first half and would have led had Abdoullah Ba not made a mess of a glorious opportunity when the game was goalless. And although the excellent Simon Moore made a string of fine saves, the Black Cats will have felt hard done by to be behind at the break.

In truth, Le Bris’ side ran out of steam in the second half and offered little – but Chris Rigg, Adil Aouchiche and Nectar Triantis can all be satisfied with their evening’s work. And in goal, Moore was outstanding.

On the flip side, Triantis aside, the defence looked shaky all night – particularly down the left side – and couldn’t cope with North End’s set-pieces. And at the other end, Sunderland were toothless, Nazariy Rusyn working hard but again failing to offer any evidence he can be the answer to the club’s striker woes. And how many of these players are really knocking on the door to force their way into Le Bris' first team? The lack of depth is a concern.

Preston have had their own problems scoring goals and had failed to hit the net in six competitive outings prior to the visit of Sunderland. That struggle twinned with Monday’s surprise exit of Ryan Lowe, with Mike Marsh taking charge as temporary boss for the first time, meant it came as little surprise when the team news dropped and it emerged that North End were near enough at full strength.

Sunderland most certainly were not. As if the make-up of Le Bris’ team wasn’t enough in isolation, Lowe’s departure added to the unknown at Deepdale. How would Preston react to the exit of their boss? Would the departure of the unpopular manager lift the fans? How would Sunderland’s second string cope in a competitive fixture?

Le Bris admitted Monday’s sudden managerial developments at North End and the temporary appointment of Marsh meant, to an extent, Sunderland headed for Deepdale with their eyes closed, uncertain of how the dugout change would impact the home side’s set-up and approach. But keen for his side to be adaptable, he saw the game as an early challenge and was intrigued to see how his players would deal with change.

Well they dealt with things pretty well in the early stages. Sunderland were the brighter and sharper of the two sides, with Romaine Mundle picking up where he left off in that Bradford friendly. The winger weaved into the box and baffled Preston with a clever backheel into the path of Aouchiche, who tried to pick out Ba but home keeper Freddie Woodman got there first.

Another Aouchiche cross reached Ba moments later and the winger had to score. Instead, he hesitated and his tame header bounced wide, a glorious opportunity spurned. Aouchiche was in the mood and pulling the strings, testing Woodman from distance.

Preston threatened for the first time when Robbie Brady’s punt from distance was headed over his own goal by Hjelde, and there was a sigh of Sunderland relief from the resulting corner when a goalline scramble eventually ended up with the visitors hacking clear. That sparked the hosts into life and only a superb full stretch save from Moore to keep out an Andrew Hughes header prevented them from taking the lead.

Moore was at it again 10 minutes before half-time, making another good stop to deny Emil Riis after a Joe Anderson mistake. But the Sunderland keeper was helpless as North End got themselves in front just two minutes later. The hosts caught the Black Cats on the break and Brad Potts picked out the unmarked Ledson, whose shot diverted off the boot of Johnson and beyond the unfortunate Moore.

Sunderland almost gifted Preston a second goal just 10 seconds after the restart when Hjelde misplaced a pass straight into the path of Will Keane, who forced a good save from Moore. And Sunderland’s keeper was it again just minutes later when he made a superb instinctive stop to keep out a low Ben Whiteman drive.

Sunderland-born former Black Cats youngster Sam Greenwood was booed onto the pitch by the away fans as caretaker boss Marsh turned his bench. Le Bris opted against changing personnel but did make one switch, with Ba and Mundle swapping flanks.

Sunderland looked to be running out of ideas. Rusyn was fighting a losing battle up-front and home keeper Woodman was quiet and untested in the opening quarter of an hour of the second half. Moore should have been tested by Mads Frokjaer but the winger got his angles all wrong and headed well wide when unmarked inside the box.

But the Danish forward made up for that miss when he lashed home Preston’s second 20 minutes from time. Frokjaer pounced on some uncertainty in Sunderland’s midfield, charged towards the box and hit a low drive into the bottom corner.

Harrison Jones was brought on to make his debut and Tommy Watson followed from the bench alongside Hemir and Jewison Bennette, who dragged a shot wide in stoppage time.